I lost my airtag. As soon as I noticed I did not have it, I turned on the lost mode. However, it has been 3 hours and it hasn’t connected. I went to the last location that Find My shows, but it never connected. If somebody found it, could they have reseted the airtag before I enabled lost mode?
AirTag
No. The only way they could reset the AirTag, but more importantly be able to associate it to their Apple Account, is for you to remove it from yours. Without doing so, even if they can reset it, they will not be able to use it. It doesn't matter that you placed it in Lost Mode or not. This mode is basically to allow you to provide contact information to the finder.
Ref: Mark an AirTag or other item as lost in Find My on iPhone - Apple Support
No. The only way they could reset the AirTag, but more importantly be able to associate it to their Apple Account, is for you to remove it from yours. Without doing so, even if they can reset it, they will not be able to use it. It doesn't matter that you placed it in Lost Mode or not. This mode is basically to allow you to provide contact information to the finder.
Ref: Mark an AirTag or other item as lost in Find My on iPhone - Apple Support
Can you reset an airtag if the lost mode was never enabled?
